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Gibraltar is a UK colony/territory/possession and unlike the US; most nations have an official national language but the UK also allows regional languages (ex. Gallic in Northern Ireland, Welsh in Wales, etc but ALL national level government affairs are conducted in English and English only).
IIRC the US is one of the few nations that dont have an official language.
And; sir, you are correct
Now for irony; the Philippines also uses the English language for official business although Tagalog has, in theory, co-equal status-----and, 110 years ago, that country was part of Spain. It is eerie that Spanish died out as quickly and completely as it did------very few Filipinos speak that language.
Now for irony; the Philippines also uses the English language for official business although Tagalog has, in theory, co-equal status-----and, 110 years ago, that country was part of Spain. It is eerie that Spanish died out as quickly and completely as it did------very few Filipinos speak that language.
Spanish never penetrated the mases in Phillipines, they have numerous cultures and thousands of dialects, US also occupied Phillipines, and you can hear its contribution in tagalog as well as Spanish and oriental languages,
tagalog is an awfall sounding language.
On the other hand we have Puerto Rico which was occupied by US in 1898,
and has been a commonwealth of the US for many decades, however despite efforts to make english the predominant language, that did not happen, and
Spanish remains the main language by far.
However there is not this stupid animosity about whether speaking one language or the other is such a "disaster".
We should learn in the continental US from Puerto Rico, where people live in racial and linguistic harmony.
Spanish never penetrated the mases in Phillipines, they have numerous cultures and thousands of dialects, US also occupied Phillipines, and you can hear its contribution in tagalog as well as Spanish and oriental languages,
tagalog is an awfall sounding language.
On the other hand we have Puerto Rico which was occupied by US in 1898,
and has been a commonwealth of the US for many decades, however despite efforts to make english the predominant language, that did not happen, and
Spanish remains the main language by far.
However there is not this stupid animosity about whether speaking one language or the other is such a "disaster".
We should learn in the continental US from Puerto Rico, where people live in racial and linguistic harmony.
And PR is a poor territory compared to the mainland-----if it were so great, why are so many people leaving there to live/work here?
In all fairness admittedly; all PR people are US citizens.
BTW: the newer San Juan police cars say 'Police Department' on 'em------in English. That may an indicator that Spanish will be on the decline there soon.
BTW: the newer San Juan police cars say 'Police Department' on 'em------in English. That may an indicator that Spanish will be on the decline there soon.
That's only for the "gringo" tourists who won't understand Spanish -- so they can tell the police from the Taxis.
I will help more Latin Americans to come to this country legally, it is a great country and like many immigrants before Latin Americans make it better.
My wife and I are pushing more latino parents into education and business, also how to avoid the ghetto. We already have many families here in SoCal and South Florida that we know are countering the prejudices that people have towards Hispanics, but countering with intelligence and perseverance.
What we need to get, are more intelligent immigrants from Latin America or at least folks that are willing to expand past manual labor, believe it or not folks there are many intelligent RICH Latin Americans.
Well, Puerto Rico has "linguistic harmony" solely because 90%+ of the population is Hispanic. Im sure if Puerto Rico was more diverse (especially with a larger population of non Hispanic Whites) then im sure English would be spoken alot more as the primary language. My family has a vacation house in Rincon, and even all the way out there I would say the vast majority of Puerto Ricans are almost totally bilingual, just because they are speaking Spanish does not mean they cant speak English almost perfectly.
From what I have seen; the use of English on the police cars is becoming very common in Puerto Rico. The Aguadilla PD also recently switched to all English wording as well. The new San Juan PD vehicle graphics are AMAZING, easily the best looking cop car graphics I have ever seen in my entire life.
I do feel that as time goes on and it becomes more and more obvious that PR's future is greater integration with the nation as a whole (possibly even becoming the 51st state) I think Spanish will begin to die off as the primary language. Look at Guam as another example; when we took over in 1898 their main language was Chamorran and now its very rarely spoken ... same with Hawaiian in Hawaii.
The worst thing that can happen to the USA is its Balkanization------with the possible exception of Switzerland, I cannot think of a single successful example of a country with a large minority language speaking sub culture.
Hell: even Belgium is facing the possibility of breaking up; the Walloons (French speakers joining France) and the Flemish linking up with the Netherlands due to their common Dutch language.
Look at the above-------that is all the more reason to enforce the use of the English language only here in the USA for all official business with the obvious exception of public health/safety issues.
Even Gibraltar; where virtually all of its people would be counted as 'Hispanic' if they were American--------the only language on its official gov't website is English.
Oooooo, Cannnaaadaaa...
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